A bizarre flick from Mexico translated by K. Gordon Murray for children's matinees, in which Santa Claus is the envy of the CIA and avoids child labor laws by keeping his slaves in an orbital castle over the North Pole. Currently #44 on IMDB's Bottom 100 of worst films, beating out "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" by a wide margin. From everything I've heard, it's PD in Mexico, too, so the GATT monster didn't get this one!


This movie is part of the collection: Feature Films

Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: Santa Claus; christmas

Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0

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Reviewer: BondoFox - - December 23, 2011
Subject: So Bad It's Great
Y'see, the reason this movie was made was to bring the concept of Santa Claus to Mexico. At the time, Mexico had their own Christmas celebrations which were more religious than secular. The idea was that if Santa Claus was introduced to Mexico, it would help toy marketing and increase sales. And it worked!

The movie got lost in obscurity until "Mystery Science Theater 3000" resurrected it, making it a cult classic.

If you haven't seen the MST3K version, you may have a hard time watching this. Their version made it *extremely* watchable. Now here, you can give the original a try, and as cheesy as it is by today's standards, it'll be a fun watch.

Reviewer: AlecWest - - October 17, 2011
Subject: Everything is relative.
The same year this film came out in Mexico (1959), it won the Golden Gate Award for Best International Family Film at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Murray released his dubbed version in 1960. And it made so much money that it was periodically re-released in theaters during the 1960s and 1970s. So, what might be cheesy now wasn't so cheesy back then.

Reviewer: rclo - - June 3, 2011
Subject: Creepy Santa
From the start, Santa looks creepy, demented and evil, and his laugh is anything but jolly.

Be good, kids, or they might make you watch this movie.

Reviewer: bandit2005 - - May 31, 2011
Subject: silly but entertaining
Back in the late 60's they has kiddie matinees showing movies like this.i remember the other Christmas movie called the christmas that almost was'nt.this was before vhs and dvd.and watching this as a kid it was kind of creepy,like the big ear and big eye.but now its kind of silly.in an offbeat way.K Gordon Murry made some pretty weird movies,like puss and boots,rumplstillskin,
and the mexican monster and wrestling santos movies that were all sold to tv from american international pictures.so really the original title was santa claus not to be confused by the Tim Allen santa claus movies.but this could give young children nightmares.

Reviewer: picfixer - - May 30, 2011
Subject: Nightmares, suitable for ages 3 to 9
Proof that Mexico and the United States harmoniously working together have the ability to produce a film with the potential to terrorize millions of children in the Spanish and English speaking worlds. Remarkable! And to think this was accomplished without the aid of NAFTA. Continuing in the spirit of international goodwill, "Santa Claus vs. the Devil" receives 3 stars for being something which must be seen to be believed - and then taken out in the backyard and buried.

…hmmm, what if with the help of Canada we gave the Easter Bunny vampire fangs?

Reviewer: Vance Capley - - May 29, 2011
Subject: The Psycotronic Christmas Special!!!
This is the Christmas special for the psycotronic generation! It's perfect. Please note***I didn't say that this was a great Christmas picture.*** This is a great Christmas pic for the psycotronic gen

Reviewer: splue - - May 29, 2011
Subject: lost ed wood film ???
maybe__________IF ED FLUSHED QUALITY DOWN TH TOILET & LOST HIS MIND!!!!!!!!

Reviewer: Kodachrome - - May 29, 2011
Subject: How did this ever become PD?
Perhaps it is because this is quite possibly the worst movie ever made.

I am hoping for a sequel: Santa Clause versus the Zeta Drug Cartel. Now THAT would be worth watching!

One star for this very scary flick.

Reviewer: el pila - - January 7, 2011
Subject: Weird as hell
This movie is like Santa Claus vs the Martian's insane cousin. They obviously tried to make this as appealing to small children as possible, but if any kid wasn't creeped out by it I'd be surprised. Nearly everything about this is such nightmare fuel. Hey,the thing disturbs me, and I'm an adult!